Pieces of Eight | Page 5

got the very thing. A pity I haven't got it
here. You must come in and see it to-morrow."
And he took a tantalising sip of his port.
"What on earth is it? Why do you keep us guessing?"
"Why, it's an old manuscript."
"An old manuscript!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, an old document that came into my hands a short time ago.
Charlie, you remember old Wicks--old Billy Wicks--'Wrecker' Wicks,
they called him--"
"I should say I do. A wonderful old villain--"
"One of the greatest characters that ever lived. Oh, and shrewd as the
devil. Do you remember the story about his--"
"But the document, for heaven's sake," I said. "The document first; the
story will keep."
"Well, they were pulling down Wicks's own house just lately, and out
of the rafters there fell a roll of paper--now, I'm coming to it--a roll of
paper, purporting to be the account of the burying of a certain treasure,
telling the place where it is buried, and giving directions for finding
it--"

Charlie and I exclaimed together; and John continued, with tantalising
deliberation.
"It's in the safe, down at the office; you shall see it to-morrow. It's a
statement purporting to be made by some fellow on his deathbed--some
fellow dying out in Texas--a quondam pirate, anxious to make his
peace at the end, and to give his friends the benefit of his knowledge."
"O John!" said I, "I sha'n't sleep a wink to-night."
"I don't take much stock in it," said John. "I'm inclined to think it's a
hoax. Some one trying to fool the old fellow. If there'd been any
treasure, I guess one could have trusted old 'Wrecker' Wicks to get after
it.... But, boys, it's bed-time, anyhow. Come down to the office in the
morning and we'll look it over."
So our meeting broke up for the time being, and taking my candle, I
went upstairs, to dream of caves overflowing with gold pieces, and
John Tinker, fierce and moustachioed, standing over me, a cutlass
between his teeth, and a revolver in each hand.

CHAPTER II
_The Narrative of Henry P. Tobias, Ex-Pirate, as Dictated on His
Deathbed, in the Year of Our Lord, 1859._
The good John had scarcely made his leisurely, distinguished
appearance at his desk on the morrow, immaculately white, and
breathing his customary air of fathomless repose, when I too entered by
one door, and Charlie Webster by the other.
"Now for the document," we both exclaimed in a breath.
"Here it is," he said, taking up a rather grimy-looking roll of foolscap
from in front of him.

"A little like hurricane weather," said the broadly smiling Charlie
Webster, mopping his brow.
The room we were in, crowded with pigeon-holes and dusty documents
from ceiling to floor, looked out into an outer office, similarly dreary,
and painted a dirty blue and white, furnished with high desks and stools,
and railed off with ancient painted ironwork, forlornly decorative, after
the manner of an old-fashioned countinghouse, or shipping office. It
had something quaintly "colonial" about it, suggesting supercargoes,
and West India merchants of long ago.
John took a look into the outer office. There was nothing to claim his
attention, so he took up the uncouthly written manuscript, which, as he
pointed out, was evidently the work of a person of very little education,
and began to read as follows:
"County of Travas "State of Texas "December 1859
_"I being in very poor health and cannot last long, feeling my end is
near, I make the following statement of my own free will and without
solicitation. In full exercise of all my faculties, and feel that I am doing
my duty by so doing._
_"My friends have shown me much kindness and taken care of me
when sick, and for their kindness I leave this statement in their hands to
make the best of it, when I will now proceed to give my statement,
which is as follows:--_
_"I was born in the city of Liverpool, England (on the 5th day of
December 1784). My father was a seaman and when I was young I
followed the same occupation. And it happened, that when, on a
passage from Spain to the West Indies, our ship was attacked by
free-traders, as they called themselves, but they were pirates._
_"We all did our best, but were overpowered, and the whole crew,
except three, were killed. I was one of the three they did not kill. They
carried us on board their ship and kept us until next day when they
asked us to join them. They tried to entice us, by showing us great piles

of money and telling us how rich we could become, and many other
ways, and they tried to get us to join them willingly,